1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to children's toys in general, and in particular, to a child's infant-care play center.
2. Description of Related Art
It has long been appreciated that children learn and mature not only through structured pedagogical activities, such as school, but also through play activities, such as games and role playing. In light of this, the prior art includes numerous examples of children's toys, games and “activity centers” that are adapted to teach as well as to entertain the child.
Those intended for infants and very young toddlers tend to be directed to developing the child's hand-eye coordination skills, such as the collapsible activity center described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,066,022 to E. Fobean et al., the infant bath toy described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,016,926 to D. Smith, II et al., the activity toy described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,454,745 to L. Spielberger, and the bathing toy described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,577,675 to F. Kohner et al.
Those intended for older children tend to be directed to developing the child's role-playing skills, and typically provide or establish an environment that is appropriate to the particular role being played. Examples of these can be found in: The electronic interactive play environment for toy characters described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,227,931 to J. Shackelford; the play-house described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,706,613 to R. Drake, Jr. et al.; the toy medical office de-scribed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,342,173 to M. Otake; the cooking toy described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,467,553 to S. Kanda; the toy ambulance unit described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,194,318 to S. Watanabe; the toy castle set described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,139,967 to W. Kuna et al.; the play seat apparatus described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,057,244 to P. Gaspar; the toy veterinarian kit described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,030,235 to R Terzian et al.; and, the doll house described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,995,307 to J. Payton.
While the above role-playing toys and play centers encompass a wide variety of role types, there is a dearth in the prior art of activity centers directed to the development of parenting skills, and in particular, to infant-care skills. A need therefore exists for an inexpensive, full-featured child's play center that is both entertaining, and yet engages the child in realistic infant-care play activities, e.g., the feeding, changing, bathing and monitoring activities typically associated with the parenting role of infant care.